Even the Romans, who settled at various locations along the River Severn had to cross the river. ﻿ CROSSING THE RIVER The Romans settled at various locations along the Severn, or as they named it, Sabrina. They were not bridge builders, but preferred to cross the river by using fords. The Severn name for ford is lode, as for example, Upper Lode, Saxon Lode and Wainlode. The early bridges that crossed the Severn have not survived the ravages of war, floods and time. Records show that during the 13th century many fine bridges were built. One of the first Severn bridge builders' was William Fitz-Anketill, who in the year 1200 built a bridge at Maisemore, Gloucester. There has been a bridge at Montford, Salop since the 13th century, when even in those days, a toll had to be paid to cross it! Not all bridges were built for transport. The Birmingham Aqueduct, crossing the river at Bewdley, water runs from the Elan Valley to Birmingham with no pumps on the route! The head of water is great enough to send the water to the Midlands.

The other water carrying bridge is at Hampton Loade and is in use by South Staffs Water. How many people have lost their lives involving the bridges? Certainly during the 1960's seven men were killed were killed as a result of accidents involving shipping and the bridges. One on the Severn Suspension Bridge, five at the Severn Railway Bridge and one at Haw Bridge. Bewdley has had several bridges on the present site. One built in 1447 was replaced in 1459, which was replaced by a stone one built in 1483. This was damaged by a flood in 1574 and finally swept away by the flood of 1795. Telford replaced it with the present bridge at a cost of £9,000 It was the great floods of 1795 that destroyed most of the Severn bridges. This at a time when the Industrial Revolution was changing the way of life in Britain. It gave the great constructors of that time the opportunity to build iron bridges across the river.

Each area had its bridge builder, Thomas Penson at Montgomeryshire, John Gwynne at Shropshire and Thomas Telford being involved with most of the others. Ironically the first iron bridge in the world was not built by any of these men. Bewdley Bridge Sabrina and the river severn Sabrina and the River Severn By Liam Rogers Published at Beltane 1999 "There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream..." Milton, 'Comus' High in the Black Mountains, on the windswept slopes of Mount Plynlimon, three sisters met to discuss the weighty problem of what was the best way to the sea - for, being water spirits, they were fond of the oceans. The first decided to take the direct route, and headed westward. She became the river Ystwith, and was the first to mingle with salty waters. The second sister had a taste for landscape, and made her way through purple hills and golden valleys - her name was Wye. The remaining sister decided against short-cuts and it took her 180 miles to reach the sea.

The Severn, it appears, wished to visit all the fairest cities of the kingdom and never stray far from the haunts of men. 1 Of course the river influenced the location of the cities she loved so much, not vice versa, but one cannot argue that the country's longest river has not been of immense importance to her human parasites throughout history. The infant river gains strength from the transfusions of scores of smaller streams and rival rivers as it courses its way from the mountains of mid-Wales, through the Welsh Marches, and into England. Then it snakes through four counties whose economic, social and political histories it has shaped, before plunging into the Bristol Channel. The Severn has been an important trade artery since probably before the coming of the Romans, and particularly since medieval times. With its tributary, the Avon, it cuts deep into the heart of England, linking the iron and coal fields of the Midlands with the Bristol Channel. Its important role during the Industrial Revolution is reflected by the innovations of Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge that took place on her Shropshire banks. However, in this article I am more interested in the river's role in earlier times, and the myths and superstitions that blossomed on her fertile banks.

The Severn as boundary The difficulties encountered whilst trying to cross the river before bridges became commonplace has led to the Severn playing an important historical (and mythical) role as a natural boundary. The few fording places provided the soil out of which many early riverside settlements grew, and the fords themselves were jealously guarded. A frontier made up of the courses of the Severn and Trent marked the extent to which the Roman commander Plautius managed to subdue the British, before he was called back to Rome in 47 CE. The British leader, Caratacus, had retreated over the Severn into Wales where he enlisted the support of the warlike Silures, and from there they led repeated forays into the new Roman territory. The new Roman commander, Scapula, was caused no end of hassle until he finally crossed the river to storm the Britons' riverside stronghold at Caersws and capture the cunning Caratacus. 2 The river was also important when the Saxons arrived in Britain. In 577, the Saxon leader Cealwin defeated the Britons at Dyrham, a victory that led to the establishment of the Hwiccan kingdom.

3 The retreating Britons are rumoured to have been engaged again near Frethern (near Arlingham in Gloucestershire) whilst heading for a river crossing: "On this day Unla Water probably received its name from the Saxons, for Unla is a contraction of the Saxon word for misfortune. Here many a Saxon saw the river for the first time and plunged in only to be drowned. As they saw the Britons running across Priding's Point to the safety of the Silurian shore, it must have seemed a simple matter to the Saxons to cut off this retreat by swimming the narrow main channel of the river. But Unla Water as it runs under the north bank of Arlingham is the most dangerous reach of the Severn and even at low tide is a maze of currents and whirlpools. 4 The river thus played a major role in preserving the Celtic culture for so long. The Saxons, gazing out over the river, saw an unknown mysterious land that the Severn preserved from their attentions. Wales thus gets its name from the Saxon term for foreigners, wealas , an indication of the power of the Severn to dictate borders.

5 And when Saint Augustine came to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxon population, he is said to have chosen to meet with the bishops of the surviving Celtic Church at Aust, on the banks of the Severn. 6 Shakespeare, in his Henry IV part 1 , recalls (inaccurately) Owen Glyndower's Welsh rebellion and has Glyndower and Edmund de Mortimer battling to the death by the side of the Severn: "When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank In single opposition hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glyndower: Three times they breathed, and three times did they drink Upon agreement of swift Severn's flood: Who then affighted with their bloody looks Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, Blood-stained with these valiant combatants." 7 The remnants of the perennial rivalry between the inhabitants of the lands separated by the Severn linger on.

The Reverend Mayo, writing in 1914 of the riverside parish of Arley, tells that in his day the old manorial right of hanging every Welshman that dared to cross the river still existed - perhaps it still remains to this day! 8 The Severn's vital role as a boundary is reflected in myth and folklore that suggest liminality and links with the Underworld. The Severn is said to be the boundary of the nightgale's song, for instance. 9 Rivers have often been seen as frontiers that also act as rites of passage (the Rubicon for example), and that dissolve previous identity (the mythical Lethe). Baptism, that John the Baptist performed in a river, is an initiation - a rebirth - and also death to the past life of the person. The river recalls the primal waters out of which many mythologies have creation begin from. Mircea Eliade explains how this concept works: "The waters symbolize the universal sum of virtualities; they are fons et origo, 'spring and origin', the reservoir of all the possibilities of existence; they precede every form and support every creation ...

Emersion repeats the cosmogonic act of formal manifestation; immersion is equivalent to a dissolution of forms. This is why the symbolism of the waters implies both death and rebirth. Contact with water always brings a regeneration - on the one hand because dissolution is followed by a new birth, on the other because immersion fertilizes and multiplies the potential of life." 10 All this may help to explain the belief that the hermits of Blackstone rock near Bewdley used to rescue infants from the river and give them the surname Severn, as if they were born of the river. 11 Less likely is that the tale is a vague memory of human sacrifice, although many rivers do seem to recall this in their folklore. The Wye, for example, is supposed to demand one human life every year. Although many bodies are found in the Severn to this day (from misadventure or suicide, usually), I haven't come across any such beliefs surrounding the river. The story of Sabrina's death, as we shall see later, can be read in the light of Eliade's comment.

The river not only spells Sabrina's death in this world, but also (according to Milton at least) a transformation and rebirth into another form of life - as the tutelary goddess of the river. All this links in with cycles of the year, and of flood and drought, which make rivers important for the fertility of the land, as I shall explain shortly. The river is a space between places, a strange gap between two areas of land. It is something that connects, but yet separates. This watery no-man's-land is often seen as an entry to the Underworld. Thus a man who went fishing on the river on a Sunday (a liminal time) is reputed to have hooked none other than the Devil, who pulled him out of his boat and into the mysterious waters. 12 In his interesting article on some of the Severn's rock-cut hermitages, Chris Jenkins mentioned several pieces of interesting liminal lore including a story about the Blackstone hermitage in which a salmon with a ring turns up.

13 As he points out, this is reminiscent of the Salmon of Knowledge, and also the Salmon of Llyn Llyw from the mabinogi of Kulhwch and Olwen which is also associated with the Severn. 14 The salmon is said in this story to be the oldest (and hence also wisest) of the creatures of the world who helps Arthur's men in their quest to complete the tasks set by Ysbaddaden Chief Giant, so that Kulhwch can marry the giant's daughter, Olwen. The giant (whose name means "hawthorn") is clearly associated as a liminal or Underworld character when he is wounded in the leg, breast, and eye (the three wounds may also reflect archaic Indo-European tripartite themes). The heroes have to retrieve a comb, shears, and a razor from between the ears of Twrch Trwyth, a giant boar who is finally tracked down and chased into the Severn: "...and they waylaid him there with what tried warriors there were in this Island, and drove him by sheer force into the Severn ...

And first they laid hold of his feet, and soused him in Severn till it was flooding over him." 15 Also, the fourth century Romano-British temple at Lydney (intimately linked to the Severn, as I shall explain a little later) is also suggestive of the river's connections to otherworldly agencies. Cubicles there may have been used for visitors to sleep in whilst awaiting the healing or inspirational touch of the god Nodens. 16 At the centre of the temple is an intriguing pottery structure in the shape of a funnel which was filled with votive offerings. Ross suggests that, like the river itself, the funnel is a representation of the Underworld. 17 Bloodstreams: fluvial fecundity With the Severn now constrained by artificial banks for much of its length, and its flow regulated by the Clywedog dam and reservoir - reducing the risk of seasonal flooding and allowing extra water into the river in drier periods - it is no longer so apparent how the river's moods would have once varied with the seasons.

The difference between having water available to irrigate your fields and having your livelihood threatened by flooding would have been marginal, and a close eye needed to be kept on the waters that could bring fecundity or ruin. As such, it is no surprise that many ancient cultures made offerings to the deities of rivers. At the Babylonian New Year, a ram was sacrificed and dismembered. Its blood was smeared on the temple walls, and then the head and torso were cast into the Euphrates to encourage the waters to rise. When they did, an effigy of Tammuz was "launched in a funerary vessel that then sank to the fluvial underworld." 18 The death and resurrection of the harvest god is thus re-enacted in the hope that the river will bring fertility to the land. The Greek myth of Achelous is similar. Whilst fighting Hercules for the hand of Deianira he transforms himself into a bull, and, as he is defeated, one of his horns is torn off. Achelous drowns himself in the river that was to bear his name, and nymphs throw the horn into the river where it bears strange fruit.

The horn thus becomes Cornucopia, the horn of plenty. Of course the most famous of such myths is the dismemberment of Osiris by Set, and the loss of his phallus in the Nile. Simon Schama explains Plutarch's interpretation of this tale: "In such a metaphorical scheme, Plutarch tells us, Osiris functions as the personification of fecundity: 'the whole source and faculty of creative moisture', and 'the Nile ... the effusion of Osiris.' Conversely, Set/Typhon is his antithesis, the personification of drought and famine: 'all that is dry, fiery and arid'. The sealing of Osiris in his coffin thus 'means nothing less than the vanishing and disappearance of water.' The elements mourned for the dead hero in all their qualities :the fading of daylight, the dying of the north wind, the retreat of vegetation. As the waters abated, penurious anxiety returned. With the Osirian resurrection (or at least reconstitution) in the late spring, hope, prosperity, and verdure returned to the basin of the Nile, born of the embrace between the moist Osiris and the earthy Isis.

The fruit of their union, the child-god Horus, finally and conclusively dispatches Typhon, the destructive ocean, forcing it back to expose the alluvial silt that manures Egypt's crops. Death and sacrifice, then, are the preconditions of rebirth. Blood is miraculously transubstantiated into water ..." 19 After the river pike and sea bream have eaten the phallus of Osiris, eating them becomes taboo because they contain the means of regeneration. Plutarch describes the bream as thus becoming a "self-sent messenger ... announcing to a happy people, the rise of the river." 20 Similarly, to return to the Severn, the life cycles of eel and salmon become a metaphor for the river's role in the cycles of life and death. Eels, for example breed in the Sargasso sea, from where the elvers make the hazardous trip across the Atlantic into the Severn (and our other rivers) where they reach maturity, only to trek their way back across the ocean to breed again.

Salmon breed in the shallow gravelly areas of rivers, where the young alevin are hidden in the gravel for the first month of their lives, before emerging to grow to maturity and head towards the sea. The mature salmon then return to the river to breed, giving us the famous sight of the fish fighting their way upstream, jumping weirs, and all sorts of madness. Then, after breeding, the majority die, leaving their young to start the cycle all over again. Despite the habit of deities connected with rivers in the classical world of being male, many Celtic myths speak of river goddesses. The Boyne and the Shannon owe their origins to goddesses (Boand and Sinaan) who defied magic wells. The wells rose up against them in anger, mutilating and drowning the goddesses (as well as forming the rivers in question). 21 In Wales, Saint Tybie's Well is the source of the River Gwenlais - the spring issuing forth from the spot where a virgin was slain. 22 This begs the question of just what is meant by slaying a virgin!

Maybe we are talking about the blood of a deflowered virgin as a metaphor for the fecundating power of rivers, or the menstrual cycle as a symbol for the cycles of nature? Certainly the sources of rivers have often been equated with vulvic symbolism, and the name of the River Kennet (once Cunnit) has been linked with the word "cunt". The source of the Kennet, Swallowhead Spring near Silbury Hill, also has a rather suggestive name (or is it just me!). In Snorri's Edda , a tale is told in which Thor is crossing a river which starts to rise, threatening to drown him. His problem is caused by a giantess called Gialp, who is standing "astride the river ... causing it to rise". Thor announces "At its outlet must a river be stemmed", and hurls a rock at, one assumes, her vagina. 23 Another goddess who is found standing astride a river is the Irish raven goddess the Morrigan whilst mating with the Dagda. 24 At which point it is time to turn back to the Severn and the maiden who gave her name to the river.

Sabrina's story The story, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth at least, concerns the King of England, Locrinus, who is one of the sons of the Trojan Brutus who is supposed to have founded Britain. Locrinus leads an army to the north of England to defeat invading Huns who have already defeated his brother, Albanactus, in Scotland. With the invaders routed, Locrinus falls for one of the prisoners he has taken, a German girl called Estrildis, whom he wishes to wed. However, Locrinus is already promised to Gwendolen, daughter of Brutus's second-in-command, Corineus. Corineus, battle-axe in hand, forces Locrinus to honour his word and marry Gwendolen, but the king keeps Estrildis as a mistress in an underground dwelling in New Troy. Pretending that he is making sacrifices to the gods, Locrinus visits his lover for seven years, and in due course she falls pregnant and bears him a daughter by the name of Habren. When Corineus dies, Locrinus takes the opportunity to leave Gwendolen and marry Estrildis.

Mad with rage, his former queen raises an army in Cornwall and marches against Locrinus, defeating her former husband's forces and killing Locrinus in a battle near the River Stour (probably the Severn tributary, that joins the Severn at Stourport). Gwendolen then ordered that Estrildis and Habren be put to death, whereupon they are drowned in the Severn. In tribute to the guiltless Habren, she pronounces that the river should bear the child's name - Habren or Hafren in Welsh, Severn in English, and Sabrina in Latin 25 . Sabrina effectively becomes the genius loci of the river, and may even be a memory of a genuine river goddess. In the seventeenth century, Milton spoke of her in his Masque Comus: "She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen, Commended her fair innocence to the flood That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.

The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played, Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall; Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel, And through the porch and inlet of every sense Dropped in ambrosial oils, till she revived, And underwent a quick immortal change, Made Goddess of the river ..." 26 It is possible that Sabrina's story retains hints at more archaic themes. I am merely speculating, but the subterranean abode of Estrildis does have certain affinities with Indo-European myths concerning the withdrawal of a goddess within a cave or labyrinth - myths intimately related to the land's fecundity, and the cycle of death and rebirth. At the risk of seeming rather Freudian, I also suggest the cave may be symbolic of the vulva.

Anne Ross notes that the drowning goddess theme has a considerable history, and even when found in more recent folklore "clearly has a considerable ancestry with its possible origins in genuine cult legend." 27 Tacitus, in his Annals , refered to the Severn as Sabrina in the first century CE, and the name of Hafren is probably Celtic in origin but, like Afon (from which the various River Avons got their name), probably only means "river". The English name may just be a corruption of the Latin. Geoffrey's account is a means of creating stories to explain the names and origins of landscape features - but this is not to invalidate the stories as real myths, for it seems likely that he inherited much of his stuff from earlier sources. We will never know whether Geoffrey invented the tale of Sabrina, or whether it existed previously, and quite how it was influenced by Classical sources - but it probably doesn't matter. No matter where she came from, Sabrina now has a life of her own.

The God of the Severn The late Romano-British cultic temple at Lydney in Gloucestershire (built upon an Iron Age British site) is dedicated to one Nodens, who is clearly associated with the river. Although the site is now some distance from the Severn, it commands impressive views over the estuary, and the river probably flowed much nearer by during the Roman era. If anyone is to be picked out as the god of the Severn (as Milton depicted Nereus) it is surely Nodens. His temple was probably a healing centre where people would come to make offerings, and there is also evidence of incubation cubicles where devotees would sleep - perhaps to gain inspiration from their dreams. It is possible that Nodens was invoked as a deity of inspiration as well as healing. A bronze that was found at Lydney depicting a fisherman hooking a salmon has been interpreted as referring to the Salmon of Knowledge, with Nodens playing the role of both the fisherman and the fish. Nodens himself appears to have been associated with Mars, but it is as Mars the healer and not the warrior, he is also likened to the divine hunter Silvanus.

His role as huntsman may explain why a bronze dog was found in the funnel-shaped receptacle in the centre of the temple which seems to have acted rather like a ritual shaft for votive offerings. Ross considers that his name may mean "the Cloud Maker", and may derive from the same source as the medieval Irish hero Nuadu. Nuadu's epithet of "silver hand" (same as Welsh Nudd = Lludd Llaw-ereint, "Llud of the silver hand") recalls the find of a bronze arm at the Lydney temple - and it has been suggested that Nodens' silver arm may refer to the silver waters of the river. 28 Nodens is clearly associated with aquatic matters, and on the mosaic floor of his temple, a crowned Nodens is seen rising from the river in a chariot drawn by four horses, accompanied by Tritons bearing coracle paddles. Also represented at Lydney is a goddess of plenty holding a cornucopia - could this be Sabrina? The discovery of offerings of pins appears to suggest that Nodens may have had a consort to whom the pins were dedicated by pregnant or barren women.

Brian Waters goes as far as to link Nodens with the Seven Bore: "The Bore was a manifestation of the river god, and his priests, once they had learnt to foretell the time of the arrival of the sacred wave, gained the confidence of simple men." 29 The Severn Bore Even as its waters disperse into the Atlantic the Severn has one last trick up its sleeve - the Severn Bore. The ocean tide sweeping towards Europe suddenly hits shallower waters on the continental shelf, slowing it down thus contracting the length and forcing up the height of the waves. A section of the tide then finds itself trapped between South Wales and Cornwall, forcing the tide to even greater heights, and the shallowing waters and ever enclosing banks of the Severn estuary project the wave upstream. Due to the fact that the water is shallower now at the front of the wave than at its rear (and so the front moves slower) you see the typical bore shape of a truncated wave with a very steep nose and a flattened back-slope. 30 Although the Severn is not the only river to boast a bore -there are several more in Britain - it does have the biggest, and a big bore is a most impressive sight.

Its awesome ferocity perhaps justifies those who claim the word "Bore" is derived from bur meaning "indignation", "violence", or "tumult"; the alternative names for the bore used in earlier centuries of "Hygre" or "Eagre" have been traced in similarly dramatic fashion to the French Eau-guerre - "water-war"! More likely is that "bore" comes from the Saxon bara , meaning "the wave", the bore's importance to the Saxon settlers being confirmed by their name of Hwicci - the men of the tidal creek. 31 The other terms probably stem from the Scandinavian giant Aegir who was Lord of the Seas, and whose submarine hall needed no torches for light due to all the glittering gold stacked around that had been swallowed by the sea. His wife, Ran "the ravisher", would stir the waves and imperil the ships upon which the jaws of Aegir were said to close. 32 It seems possible that bores (especially those on the Trent and Ouse which are usually called Aegirs) were seen as some aspect of him. It seems likely, too, that offerings may have been made to the god of the bore.

The ancient Chinese certainly threw offerings into the river to appease the Hangchow bore on the Tsientang River - the world's largest and most dangerous bore. The Romans too, were allegedly rather freaked out when they first saw the Severn Bore, folk tradition claiming that they thought the end of the world was coming. 33 The Severn Bore is not a once a year deal, as many think (folk tradition insists it happens on Good Friday), but the biggest are seen around the spring and autumn equinoxes when the moon is full or new - there are no magical connotations in the timing: it's a matter of tides! When the tides are right, the bore starts to form around Sharpness, powers up to Awre, wobbles around the contorted stretch of river called the Noose and smashes noisily into the foot of Hock Cliff.

It soon reforms (albeit slightly confused, since one section often wanders seawards along another channel and runs into another lost bit that split off near Sharpness - but thats what you get with constantly shifting sandbanks) and heads towards Minsterworth, a popular viewing point where the bore is now constrained within more conventional riverbanks, and from there on to Gloucester where the bore hits trouble. To the west of the city, the river splits into two around Alney Island - the trouble for the bore is that each channel contains a weir that waits to swallow it. Fred Rowbotham gives us a vivid description of the fate that awaits western section of the bore as it meets Maisemore weir: "No thunderous crash of waters marks the meeting of the bore against the weir. Indeed, the sudden silence is more prominent. The waiting spectator has heard nought but the roar of the weir, to which his ear has become accustomed as it does to the ticking of a clock. The bore's approach has been seen but not heard above the weir's incessant drone. Then - silence! Two sources of tumultuous noise have quelled each other; the effect is eerie.

Suddenly the birds can be heard, or the wind in the trees ..." 34 But a really big bore somehow survives its twin battles with Maisemore and Llanthony weirs and struggles on a little, the twin bores reforming. However, the eastern channel is longer than the western one, so the western section reaches the point where the channels meet up again first - and part of it turns down the eastern channel to meet head-on the bore that has narrowly survived its tussle with Llanthony weir. No more bore, just a vague upstream flow that wanders towards Tewkesbury, and occasionally up as far as Worcester - where Diglis weir completes technology's rout of one of nature's bravest fighters. Postscript The bore confounds Western ideas of rivers as one-way linear flow of water from source to sea by bursting back upstream and reversing the flow in a most bemusing manner. Rivers, as I hope to have gone some way towards showing, aren't as simple as our modern linear rationality would have us believe.

I had great trouble writing this article: for months I sat perplexed on the banks of the river trying to get my head around it, but in the end gave up trying to do justice to this beautiful yet bewildering thing and tried to put some of its themes together in an article that begins and ends, and tries to put things into neat little sections. In this, the result of my work, you can probably see that I have failed. The river constantly rose up to try to overflow the bounds that I had set for it. You cannot do justice to a river, or perhaps any other natural thing, within the confines of an article that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. My linear thinking, I'm afraid, meant I had no choice but to write in this manner; and, although I hope I have made a little dent, I cannot fathom the depths of my subject. My mind cannot fully understand it. James Joyce maybe realised this when he wrote his remarkable Finnegan's Wake , a book whose structure is influenced by the flow of the River Liffey. Not only does the last sentence run back into the first sentence, but the book cannot be comprehended apart from the cycles and rhythms of the river.

What Joyce shows is what I have discovered here: our language and whole way of thinking is shown to be pitifully lacking when it is faced with the primal forces of nature. That our ancestors thought differently to how we do today is, I feel, proved by the myths and folklore that I have examined here. References: 1. Bill Gwilliam, Worcestershire's Hidden Past , Halfshire, 1991 2. John Peddie, Invasion: the Roman conquest of Britain , Alan Sutton, 1987 3. David Lloyd, A History of Worcestershire , Phillimore, 1993 4. Brian Waters, Severn Tide , J.M.Dent & Sons, 1947 5. Wilson Stephens, The Severn , Muller, Blond & White, 1986 6. Waters, op.cit. 7. William Shakespeare, The Complete Works , Oxford University Press, 1919 8. Rev. H.R.Mayo, The Annals of Arley , William Hepworth, 1914 9. Waters, op.cit. 10.

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane , Harvest, 1959 11. Roy Palmer, The Folklore of Hereford & Worcester , Logaston, 1992 12. Jacqueline Simpson, Folklore of the Welsh Border , Batsford, 1976 13. Chris Jenkins, Hermitage Caves & Their Magickal Associations , White Dragon, No.15, 1997 14. Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain , Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967 15. Gwyn Jones & Thomas Jones, The Mabinogion , Everyman's Library, 1949 16. Janet & Colin Bord, Sacred Waters , Granada, 1985 17. Ross, op.cit. 18. Simon Schama, Landscape & Memory , HarperCollins, 1995 19. ibid 20. Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride , quoted in ibid 21. Ross, op.cit. 22.

Bronwen Griffiths, Sacred Sites in Britain Under Threat , Place, No.3, 1997 23. Snorri Sturluson, Edda , Everyman, 1995 24. Ross, op.cit. 25. Geoffrey Ashe, Mythology of the British Isles , Methuen, 1990 26. John Milton, The Works of John Milton , Wordsworth, 1994 27. Ross, op.cit. BBC - Shropshire - Severn - History of the River Severn You are in: Shropshire > Severn > History of the River Severn Narrowboat on Severn History of the River Severn The River Severn has affected the lives of those who've lived along its banks throughout history. Find out how it got its name and how it shaped the growth of industry, ensuring Shropshire was the at the heart of the Industrial Revolution The River Severn, famous for its tidal bore, is the longest river in Britain.

It flows for around 220 miles from its source in the Welsh Cambrian mountains, through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, finally emptying into the Bristol Channel. According to some sources, the name 'Severn' is derived from Sabrina (or Hafren in Welsh) and is based on the mythical story of a nymph who drowned in the river. There is a statue of Sabrina in Dingle Gardens in the Quarry in Shrewsbury. The Severn's tributaries include the Teme, Stour, Tern and Avon and it is connected by canal with the rivers Thames, Mersey and Trent. The River Severn has always been a significant factor in the life of the people who have lived along its banks. It has assisted and thwarted armies, disrupted life during floods and freezes, as well as being an important trade artery from medieval times. River Severn near source The river linked the iron and coal fields of the Midlands with the Bristol Channel and played an important role during the Industrial Revolution. It's reflected by the innovations of Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge on its banks in Shropshire and the growth of the brick and tile works at Jackfield and porcelain at Coalport.

By the end of the 17th Century the Severn had become the second busiest river in Europe. Commercial traffic declined with the advent of the railways in the 19th Century, but reminders of the river's heyday can still be found along the waterfronts of its former inland ports, like Bridgnorth and in its rural wharves and watermen's inns. Nowadays, river traffic comprises mostly of pleasure boats. The river is navigable between Stourport in Worcestershire and Sharpness in Gloucestershire, a distance of some 50 nautical miles. The river as a boundary During the 7th Century the river became a boundary between the lands of two rival tribes. These were the Magonsaetan, who lived to the south of the river and the Wroecensaetan - (people of the Wrekin,) who lived to the north of the river. These boundaries remain in place today, but now divide regions of church authority i.e. the dioceses of Lichfield and Hereford. The river also enabled the county town of Shrewsbury to thrive.

It was able to develop over the centuries, because it was protected by a large loop, or meander in the river. Shrewsbury Castle was built to defend the only land approach to the town. The river as a trade route For many centuries Bridgnorth was an extremely busy river port. The main exports from medieval Bridgnorth were clothes, wool and beer! The town made its own brew, called cave beer. The name reportedly came from the sandstone caves at the river's edge where the beer was stored. River Severn at Wainlode Hill Merchandise was ferried down river in trows or barges and pulled up the river by teams of men harnessed to a tow rope. Close proximity to the river led to the development of other trades such as malting, tanning, weaving, drapers and iron founders. Coal was also carried down the Severn to Worcester, Bristol and beyond from around 1570. Coal trade along the Severn became vital to the development of Shropshire as an important player in the Industrial Revolution. Other industries that flourished were the brick and tile works at Jackfield and porcelain at Coalport.

In 1756 during a period when the number of boats on the river increased dramatically, to match the growth in the iron trade, there were no less than 55 barge owners in Broseley Parish, of which Jackfield was a part. The majority of owners probably lived in Jackfield. They owned 87 vessels and formed the largest community of Severn watermen between Welshpool and Gloucester. The river remained an important part of the local economy until the arrival of the Severn Valley Railway in 1862. The railway immediately took trade from the river and by 1871 there were only five barge owners operating in the Severn Gorge. By the end of the century, all barge traffic had ceased. River Severn at Epney The river in flood If you live close to the Severn, you will know all too well the problems that are caused when the river floods. In 1947, the Severn reached its highest recorded levels and the flooding cost the towns along the river, £12 million. Shrewsbury was completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Shops and businesses were affected and people had to walk over wooden boards to cross the flooded area. Floods are not the only peril though of the Severn. Deaths and accidents are another. On the evening of 23 October 1799, 28 people drowned while crossing the Severn between Coalport and Broseley. The workers were from the Coalport China works who were on their way home. A week after the accident, the owner of the China Works, John Rose, wrote to the Salopian Journal, a weekly Shropshire newspaper, to let its reader know what happened. last updated: 16/10/2008 at 12:58 created: 15/10/2008 River Severn - River Severn Shrewsbury River Severn Shrewsbury River Severn Shrewsbury The River Severn in Shrewsbury Shrewsbury is surrounded by a loop of the River Severn, the longest river in the UK, which wends its way from just over the border in Llanidloes, Mid Wales, through Shropshire countryside, to the county town of Shrewsbury.

The Roman name for the Severn was Sabrina, and ancient myth tells how Sabrina was one of three sisters, all water nymphs, who met on Pen Pumlumon (the source of the River Severn in Mid Wales) to discuss how they might wend their way to the sea. Each sister took a different route, Ystwyth to the west and Varga (the Wye) away to the south, while Sabrina (clearly the most intelligent of the three), set out on a slow meandering course that led her far into the east, through Shropshire and along the banks of Shrewsbury. There’s a statue of Sabrina in The Dingle in Shrewsbury and boat cruises along the River can be enjoyed on board ‘Sabrina Boat’. You can walk the tree-lined loop of the River Severn along the towpath, from the Welsh Bridge to the English Bridge (or vice versa). You’ll see ducks and swans, and perhaps even rowers from the local school and boat club as they practice their stroke. Photo Gallery Sabrina and the River Severn ﻿ A Fascinating Legend of Time Immortal The legend of Sabrina is documented in various sources, each with a slight variation.

This is my version, for 1999, the end of the millennium. To fully understand the story it is recommended that you print out this page and read it several times. Hafren is the Welsh Goddess of the river Severn and her Latin name is Sabrina. There was an ancient warrior called Brutus who was leader of a band of Trojan exiles from Italy who had fled to and settled in ancient Britain. He ruled Britain for twentyfour years and on the death of Brutus of Troy, the legendary second founder of Britain, his lands were divided into three parts, one part for each of his sons. The eldest son, Locrinis, took the part which is now England, the second son, Camber, took a part, which is now Wales and the youngest son, Albanact, took a part, now known as Scotland. During this period Britain was invaded by the Huns, under their chief Humber. King Locrine of Loegria, as he now was, led the fight against these invaders and succeeded in beating Humber, who was eventually killed by drowning in the river now named after him.

The Huns had a princess, Estrildis, who after the battle was captured and on seeing King Locrine they fell in love. But Locrine was already engaged to Guendolen, daughter of Corineus and such a scandalous thing couldn't be allowed to happen. Locrine was threatened by Corineus by a battle axe and thus forced him to marry his daughter. King Locrine couldn't give up his love for Estrildis and secretly kept her in the palace near Abermule for seven years. Locrine fathered two children, a son, Madan, by Guendolen and a daughter, Sabre by Estrildis. [Sabre was also known as Sabrina in the Romanised language.] Following the death of Corineus, Locrine divorced Guendolen and lived with Estrildis and daughter Sabre. The jealous Guendolen raised a Cornish army against the King and Locrine was killed in battle. Guendolen then pronounced herself ruler of Britain for their son Madan. On her instructions both Estrildis and daughter Sabre were thrown into the river and ordered that the river be named after Sabrina, so that Locrine's infidelity would be remembered forever.

Sources Reasons for the Existance of Kempsey There are two main reasons for the existance of Kempsey, the defensable settlement and the river crossings. Both depend on the River Severn. Origin of the name of the river The river is after Sabrina, daughter of the mistress of King Locrine. The jealous Queen had her thrown into the river and drowned. There is a statue of this event in the City Museum & Art Gallery, Worcester . For the full legend, click here . The Severn is the longest river in England, and floods almost yearly. It is also famous for a tidal wave called 'The Severn Bore' , but this does not reach Kempsey due to weirs lower down the river. The Severn is still Tidal at Kempsey Max Sinclair writes: "The tide still rises at Kempsey by about 1 foot some 5 hours 10 minutes after a high tide at Avonmouth.

Fishermen are bemused when their floats move upstream and their wellies fill up.The effect used to be seen up to Stourport, but Diglis weir (in Worcester) stops it now except in time of flood, when it will suddenly rise as it did on Hylton Road during the 2000 flood when the water had been falling." Worcester Art Gallery and Museum has (2001) a display on the Severn. These pictures and text are from the display: River of the Past Thousands of years ago, the River Severn, its environment and inhabitants looked very different. In early history, the river flowed northwards into the present estuary of the Dee until this outflow was blocked by sheets of ice during the Great Ice Age. The story of the past can be discovered by searching for clues amongst the stones of the valley. They tell how a powerful and mighty river carved a new course southwards; how the climate alternated from freezing cold to warmer than today and how a succession of spectacular beasts Diorama of Ice-age Worcestershire in Worcester Art Gallery and Museum. Click here for a larger version . made the valley their home.

Cold Period During the last glaciation, Worcester lay just beyond the limit of huge ice sheets in a bleak tundra landscape. As the ice melted, the Severn turned into a swollen torrent carrying great loads of rock debris and chunks of melting ice. Chilling winds blew down the bare valley where herds of woolly mammoths, woolly rhinocerous, reindeer, wolf packs and bison roamed the river's edge, feeding on rushes, sedges and the few stunted willow and birch. Warm Period Between the intensely cold period of the Great Ice Age, the climate warmed and the animals and plants changed. The open herb vegetation was first replaced by pine and birch woodland and then by mixed forest. The river flowed gently through the wooded landscape where hippopotamus, straight tusk elephant, red deer, aurochs and spotted hyena made their home. (Thanks to Mr T. Bridges, Curator, and the staff of the Worcester Art Gallery and Museum for permission to show these pictures.) The Severn Way The Severn Way ('Llwybr Hafren' in Welsh) runs through Kempsey. Kempsey is a good place to relax in a pub or stay the night .

The Severn Way is a long-distance footpath that runs from the source of the Severn at Plynlimon in Wales to the estuary at Severn Beach near Bristol. If you are walking from Land's End to John O'Groats (as I did), the Severn Way is a flat, scenic and direct way from Bristol to Bridgenorth or Ironbridge. If you continue to Shrewsbury you can link to the north-bound Marches Way or the north-east-bound Shropshire Way. There were crossings of the river at Pixham ferry , at the bottom Pixham Ferry Lane off Old Road South; and at the bottom of Lane's End . For details of a duel fought near here, click here . Pixham Ferry There are records of this ferry from about 1600 AD to when it fell derelict in 1947. It crossed the river from Pixham Ferry Lane to the Pixham Ferry Inn on the other side, which is now a private house. It was used during the Civil War, when on the 22 September 1642 Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes and Colonel Sandys led a detachment of Lord Essex's Parliamentary Army across the river there.

After Prince Rupert routed them on Powick Ham many of the fugitives re-crossed the river at Kempsey. Until 1939 the ferry was a large ferry capable of carrying several vehicles. It was moved across the river by a submerged chain. Max Sinclair writes " Pixham Ferry had a long history being used for foot passengers ,farm vehicles, and in its later years light motor cars. These pictures show the Croome Hunt with Lord and Lady Coventry using the ferry. The chain used to pull the boat across can be seen draped along the rail. When not in use it lay on the river bed. The ferryman used the Severn Punt to return home at the end of the day and as a safety boat. This simple craft owes its origin to the Ancient Britons who split oak trees to make the planks sewn together with vines." The Ketch Inn Max Sinclair writes: "There are false myths which are not questioned, for example The Ketch Inn has a two masted sailing boat as its sign but it was called The Ketch a century before this type of craft was known.

In fact a Ketch was a sandstone bar or heavy gravel shoal which trapped or in Worcestershire dialect 'ketched' the keel of the trows trading on the tidal waters, they had to wait for the tide to rise, or freshwater to come down, or unload the cargo to lighten the boat to continue the journey. One trow is recorded unloading 19 times to reach Gloucester from Ironbridge. What better place to build a pub with its 'captive' customers. Worcestershire farmers still ketch rabbits." "In the 1860's a young painter at the Worcester Porcelain Works was asked by the Landlord of the Ketch Inn Clerkenleap to paint a picture to hang in the pub. The artist, believed to be David Bates, produced a large picture which hung in the Inn for over a Century. When the family left I purchased this interesting representation of the river in the 19th Century. The artist stood in the field where the New Bridge now crosses on the Southern Link road.

The horse towing path built in the 1840's is well used, with its self closing gates which stopped cattle leaving the fields ,but the horses and donkeys knew how to open them. It is interesting to note there is no vegetation on the banks to obstruct the tow lines, and more importantly to allow the flood waters to freely flow along the banks.The same scene today is cluttered with caravans which have been placed on raised earthworks, and coupled with considerable tree growth, add to Worcesters flood problems.There is no sign of the sandstone Ketch obstruction which gave the Inn its name as the Locks and Weir at Tewkesbury ensure there is always a minimum depth of eight feet of water in the Severn at this point. " River Severn Facts and Information for kids - Photos from Source to Mouth elevation 0 m (0 ft) size over five miles wide The River Severn is 6 miles (10 km) longer than the River Thames , making it the longest river in Great Britain. It flows in a semi-circular route through the Welsh county of Powys and the English counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Interesting River Severn facts As well as the River Severn, two other rivers have their source on the mountain - the rivers Wye and Rheidol. The Severn's name is derived from the Latin word Sabrina, previously "Hafren" in Welsh, which means "boundary". The Hafren Forest takes its name from the River Severn, the Afon Hafren in Welsh The estuary of the River Severn is over five miles wide. The estuary forms a physical boundary between England and Wales. During high tides a wall of water can travel upstream for over 25 miles. This tidal wave is known as the Severn Bore and can swell the depth of the river by up to 50ft (15m). Look out for the three main functions of a river as you journey down the River Severn with Pooh and his friends. Transportation of water Deposition (depositing the sediment) A sign to the Source of the Severn / Tarddiad Hafren Click on the arrows to follow our virtual tour of the River Severn from source to sea. Alternatively you can visit our contents page for a full list of places and river features found along the river.

Other similar river pages on our website Severn Name Meaning & Severn Family History at Ancestry.co.uk Severn Family History Severn Name Meaning from a personal name equivalent to Severin. topographic name from the river Severn, which flows from Wales through much of western England to the Bristol Channel. The river name is recorded as early as the 2nd century ad in the form Sabrina. This is one of Britain’s most ancient river names; the original meaning is uncertain, but it may have been ‘slow-moving’. Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press 115,098 Historical Documents with Severn on Ancestry 35,598 Birth, Marriage, and Deaths 29,700 Census and Voter Lists 2,572 Military Records

Question: What did the Romans call the River Severn?
Answer: Sabrina